Chilmark enjoyed the first holiday weekend of the season with a two out of three good days ratio…sort of average for New England. The good days were spectacular and many folks were at the beaches enduring the first swims of the summer. And, on the flip side, the early gardens appreciated the rains of Monday and Tuesday.

The students of the Chilmark School gathered at the U.S. Coast Guard Station on Friday and proceeded down to the Dutcher dock where, with poems and music, they threw the traditional flower offerings into the water in memory of those lost to war.

The Chilmark Church conducted their annual blessing of the fleet at the dockside in Menemsha on Sunday morning. This is an annual event accompanied by speeches, song and refreshments. This year, along with all the boats being blessed was the new sport fisherman belonging to David Tilton named Noman’s Bound.

We all send congratulations to Katharine Hollister Nash, daughter of Thomas Howland and Joan Cottle Poole Nash, who graduated on May 22 magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Vermont’s School of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Katharine majored in nutrition, dietetics and food science. She received the Agnes T. Powell Award for Dietetics Promise and Potential. She will begin an internship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in August. Katharine is the granddaughter of Everett Poole of Quitsa. Cheers from us all!

Cheers to my granddaughter Celia Gilmore Slater, who graduates this weekend from Northbridge High School and is off to Mount Holyoke College in the fall. She is the daughter of Caleb and Chris Slater of Northbridge.

The Chilmark library begins their summer hours on June 6. The regular hours of service are increased by open hours on Friday mornings and Tuesday afternoons. Check the library website, chilmarklibrary.org, for details.

The library will present a program on Wednesday, June 8, at 5 p.m. on the subject of fermentation. Karon Hill will demonstrate how to make your own fermented food and discuss how they can improve your health. All are welcome at no charge.

The Chilmark Beach Committee announced this week that they have a new online beach sticker website that will make purchasing the stickers much easier. The internet address is chilmarkbeach.cityhallsystems.com. Please call City Hall Systems at 508-381-5456 if you have questions.

The Chilmark Planning Board is embarking on an update of the town’s master plan with its initial focus on Menemsha. The planning board will be meeting with various town committees and boards over the next few months to gather information from the community. There will be advance notice of public meetings and the goals are to develop long-lasting guidelines. You may visit chilmarkma.gov and select Menemsha Planning News for continuing information.

The Chilmark Historical Commission invites the public to a coffee hour on the lawn in front of the town hall on June 16 from 11 to noon for the dedication of the plaque that will mark the site of the town’s first town hall on Middle Road. The town of Chilmark and the Chilmark Historical Commission are indebted to Harriette Poole Otteson for her diligent research that resulted in the placing of this plaque. Harriette, a past chairman of the historical commission, has been researching Chilmark history for many years and much of what we now know about many of our public buildings we know because of her research. As you may not know, a few lines of accurate history may require hours of walking the sites, reading old deeds in the Edgartown court house and going through old records in town hall. We thank you, Harriette, for your hard work. And we know you are not through yet. We are looking forward to your next project!

We send best wishes for a speedy recovery to two of our neighbors who are recovering. Wesley Cottle is at home mending from recent surgery and Mark London is at his home after a recent fall. We hope to see you both out and about soon.

Joshua Matthew Levine came to Chilmark for his first Vineyard visit in the arms of his mother, Jenny Bell Levine, with her husband Joe Levine. The holiday visit was shared and enjoyed by Joshua’s grandparents Larry and Janet Bell of Chilmark and Scarsdale and great-grandparents Harold and Barbara Levine of Chilmark and Palm Beach. The eighth grade class at the West Tisbury School left for a 10-day trip to England on Tuesday. Chilmark students in the group include Dash Christy, Kieran Karabees, Adam Knight and Ben Taylor. The cost of these annual eighth grade trips is raised by the sale of advertising in the Out newspaper that each seventh grade prepares and publishes. They appreciate the generous support of Island businesses.

John Jacobs and Marilyn Newsom are happy to be showing Chilmark and the rest of the Island off to Marilyn’s son David, his wife Laura and her two grandchildren, 12-year-old Zack and 10-year-old Lizzy. It is their first visit to Chilmark. They live in Madison, Ala.

Best wishes to Jackie Flynn Morgan who is undergoing surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital as I write on Tuesday. We hope to see her soon at the Bite on Basin Road. It won’t be summer without her . . . cheers to you, Jackie.

There is a note posted on the front door of the Home Port Restaurant saying they will open in mid-June.

Send Chilmark news to slaterjn@comcast.net.